From left: Leslie Osborne, Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner and Danielle Slaton are the founders of Bay FC. The team sold out its first home match in San Jose.
A sold-out crowd of 18,000 in PayPal Park in San Jose on Saturday witnessed the latest iteration of history being made in the Bay Area: the inaugural home opener for the newest National Women’s Soccer League team, Bay FC.
As a sport professor and lifelong fan of sports of all types, I was somewhat shocked watching the sea of tail lights and bustling excitement overwhelm the event staff at the venue. Various people of differing races, places and spaces swarmed into the home of the new NWSL team — excited, nervous and ready to see what the hype was all about.
Co-founded by four U.S. Women’s National Team legends — Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner, Danielle Slaton and Leslie Osborne — along with Sixth Street Investments, the team made headlines when they announced not only that they would bring a professional women’s team to the Bay Area, but they would be doing so with an all-female founders core and the big bank of Sixth Street to put up the $53 million expansion fee.
It’s a major gamble, and from what I witnessed as a member of the sold-out crowd Saturday night, dividends are already rolling in. The event staff faced long lines at every major concession stand. From the merchandise corner to PayPal Park’s infamous “largest outdoor bar in North America,” people were ready and excited to invest in the next big thing, just as the Founding Four did.
Never have I ever seen so many excited little kids running frantically into a venue to see their role models, along with their family members who also resonate with the Founding Four (perhaps watching them during their U.S. National Team playing days or more everyday experiences at Santa Clara University).
The place was alive and radiated hope in a way many have not seen since the heyday of the San Jose Earthquakes’ “Goonies” team of 2012. At every turn, people treated Bay FC as if it were playing for the championship — because those of us who know the history understand that this is the biggest corner-kick of opportunity we may see for a women’s pro team in the Bay Area. I mean, it would certainly be foolish to watch Florida State alumna Deyna Castellanos put the first goal in the back of the net after 19 minutes, listen to 18,000 fans chant “Bay FC” at an exalted decimal level, and not think: Can they sustain this?
The Bay Area is no stranger to women’s soccer excellence and sellout crowds, but the fortunes of professional women’s soccer have been a goal that seemingly always hit the crossbar but never the net.
As some may know, first it was the San Jose CyberRays of the former Women’s United Soccer Association in 2001. Chastain played for the CyberRays and led the team to the 2001 WUSA Championship. The league eventually faltered two years later.
It would be six years until the Bay Area was graced with FC Gold Pride in the former Women’s Professional Soccer league. Much like the CyberRays, FC Gold Pride would also win a championship in 2010 and shortly after their sold-out crowds departed the venues — so did they, for good. Essentially, the teams (and leagues) were too early to the table but on the heels of the women’s empowerment movement and the NWSL’s success as No. 5 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2024, the table is now set for the (hopeful) grand success of the ladies in blue.
Here we find ourselves at the precipice of opportunity, thanks to the Founding Four, who have given the Bay Area a team to believe in during a time when many people face challenges outside PayPal Park. Let’s hope they learn from teams of the past and make careful decisions to achieve sustainable success because there is no doubt that women’s sports have captured the attention of contemporary society. With such a great opportunity comes great responsibility to kick this one to the back of the net.
The electricity of futbol has made its way back to the Bay Area but we cannot base thoughts of prosperity off a sold-out home opener, especially since it was a troubling 3-2 loss to Houston. But much like the Founding Four — we’re up for the gamble. After all, the payoff could be legendary as the Bay Area has a history of championships in women’s soccer.
A. Lamont Williams is a professor of sport management at San Jose State University and a Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project.
Women’s pro soccer in the Bay Area has always hit the crossbar, never the net. Is that about to change?
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03.04.2024
From left: Leslie Osborne, Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner and Danielle Slaton are the founders of Bay FC. The team sold out its first home match in San Jose.
A sold-out crowd of 18,000 in PayPal Park in San Jose on Saturday witnessed the latest iteration of history being made in the Bay Area: the inaugural home opener for the newest National Women’s Soccer League team, Bay FC.
As a sport professor and lifelong fan of sports of all types, I was somewhat shocked watching the sea of tail lights and bustling excitement overwhelm the event staff at the venue. Various people of differing races, places and spaces swarmed into the home of the new NWSL team — excited, nervous and ready to see what the hype was all about.
Co-founded by four U.S. Women’s National Team legends — Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner, Danielle Slaton and Leslie Osborne — along with Sixth Street Investments, the team made headlines when they announced not only that they would bring a professional women’s team to the Bay Area, but they would be doing so with an all-female founders core and the big bank of Sixth Street to........
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